Posted April 8 2008
Combating Anti-Semitism
I was walking home for shul this Shabbos when a Lexus came to a stop about twenty feet away from me. Two kids, no more than seventeen, sat in the front of the car. As I walked by they rolled down their window and began to yell a series of anti-Semitic things at me. I assessed the situation and promptly decided on a course of action. I reached down deep for the meanest, scariest voice I posses and in a New York accent that would make Bobby D proud I shouted, “The @#&! did you just say?” I then began a slow, menacing walk towards the Lexus, staring the kid in the driver’s seat in the face. The reaction was priceless. The faces of the kids in the car went from amused to scared and by the time I had taken six steps the Lexus peeled away.
There were several reasons that I chose to deal with the situation this way. Firstly, the reaction I received was exactly the reaction I expected to get. I knew that these kids thought that what they were doing was very funny and so I chose to react in a way that shifted their paradigm. I made their actions change from amusing to frightening. In much the same way, people I have told this story to say, “Are you nuts? Those kids could have been armed!” Those kids thought, “Oh crap! He probably has a weapon or kung fu training or he’s a terminator or whatever.” The point is that I knew they were just two punk kids in a car and they only knew that I was crazy enough to think about assaulting an automobile. Because this experience became scary for them, I am fairly certain that they will not be doing it again. They weren’t really anti-Semitic; they were just hobbyists.
For those of you that believe I should have kept walking and taken the “turn the other cheek” mentality, I would like to say this: By ignoring negative behavior we reinforce that behavior. Had I ignored these two, they would have continued to see this activity as fun and they would have continued to do it. This isn’t to say that I always feel this response is appropriate. There was a time that I was in Philadelphia and as I walked to shul with my friends, an old homeless man began to babble about Jews taking all the jobs and money. One of my friends broke off from the pack and began to debate the truth of this statement with the hobo. Later I tried to explain to him that the reason it’s ok to ignore anti-Semitic statements in that case is because the individual making them was a crazy street person, and no amount of debate or intimidation would stop him from being crazy.
Overall, I think we need to present ourselves as less tolerant of anti-Semitism by making ourselves look less like targets and more like trouble.
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5 Comments currently posted. 
Gadi Ian says:
keliata says:
Yes, Kol Hakavod for standing up and facing these thugs. The expect Jews to cower and absorb all of the verbal abuse. You proved them wrong! Nice job. Turning the other cheek is a guarantee that anti-Semites will continue to abuse you.
So far, the anti-Semitism I’ve dealt with has not been violent or anything but untrue and hurtful comments. Once I left my pocket siddur on my desk. The boss (a Methodist lay minister) picked it up and starting going on about how backwards it was and how “they” improved Judaism (meaning JC followers.) So I told him “my religion is hands off for you.”
That stopped him in his tracks and shut him up.
BTW, I am a ger. Before I leave the house each day, even for a small trip, I recite the Wayfarer’s Prayer that I find peace, mercy and kindness in Hashem’s eyes and the eyes of all I come into contact with.
Without going into a lengthy discussion, suffice to say Hashem has answered this prayer for me on many occassions.
Please be careful if anti-Semites are confronting you on the street. That could be very dangerous.
leah says:
Gadi Ian, you shouldn’t turn the other cheek, but who said combating ignorance with anger/intimidation is right/good?
Zechariah, I am glad nothing happened to you. It is definitely a judgment call.. just because you see two teens in their punk phase doesn’t mean they don’t pack some heat. Think about Columbine and other high school incidents.
Bobby D? *Googles Bobby D*
I am strong in my beliefs that I don’t have to raise my voice to scare someone or to prove a point.
There is certainly a difference between turning the other cheek and taking the higher road.
Turn the other cheek, means to take in the abuse/ugliness/vulgarity . Taking the higher road means to not absorb their stupidity and carry on with your activities.
Zechariah Mehler says:
Leah
Thank you for your comments.
1) Statistically speaking I have a greater chance of being killed in a Suicide Bombing on Ben Yehuda then blown away by 2 kids in a Lexus in the North Shore of Chicago. Columbine while tragic is not an incident that speaks to the aggressive potential of the majority of teenagers in America. It is simply sensational enough to push its self to the forefront of our memory making us wary of “kids these days”
2) Bobby D = Robert D’Neiro
3) You are right you don’t ALWAYS need to raise your voice to frighten or prove a point every incident is situational. Were the situation to have been with adults instead of kids the necessary reaction would have had to have been different to work under that set of parameters.
4) Happily going about your business while someone berates your ethnicity isn’t the higher road. The higher road is this confronting the guys that are abusing you and win or loose when its over you daven for their neshama and sincerely hope they overcome their backward ways.
This behavior is the mark of a great man…… so I guess I am just an ok guy.
leah says:
You’re welcome Zechariah.
I would like to respond to your fourth comment.
I obviously disagree with you. Giving attention to someone who berates you is foolish. I rather take the high road by walking away and carrying on my business.
For instance, what if you were walking to shul, and you heard someone make a derogatory comment, do you:
a) turn back and curse them out
b) turn around and scare them with your Robert D’Neiro impersonation
or
c) carry on and go daven for HaShem
I suppose what I see as the diamond you see as the cubic zirconia (Disclaimer: I have nothing against Cubic Zirconias.)
Trust me when I say, those two boys would have looked like meshuganahs had you not said anything.
I am beginning to think this is a masculinity issue rather than a “Fight Ignorance and Hate”
You men like to assess that situation and see if you can take them head on.
Us woman, (ones with gut midos) like to walk very fast and head to where we are going all while asking HaShem for help.
Any Jew who believes in “turning the other cheek” to anti-Semitism has been reading the wrong Bible. Kol Hakavod for confronting these guys and making them think twice about picking on Jews in the future!